PRESS RELEASE
LaRouche: From Fear to Panic
As Derivatives Crash Hits
Nov. 21, 2008 (EIRNS)—This release was issued today by the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee (LPAC).
Lyndon LaRouche today declared that leading bankers and government officials have gone "from fear to panic," as the next phase of the total disintegration of the global financial system hits. "We are now seeing the blowout of the multi-trillion dollar derivatives bubble," and this is what is driving the panic, LaRouche explained.
As of the end of June 2008, official figures, compiled by the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, showed a total derivatives exposure of the three largest U.S. bank holding companies—JP Morgan Chase, Citicorp and Bank of America—stood at more than $179 trillion. And the Bank for International Settlements put the amount of documented outstanding derivatives contracts worldwide at the end of 2007 at $675 trillion—still a fraction of the actual exposure.
During November, investors in hedge funds had the opportunity to withdraw their cash, without penalty, and this factor, on top of the already onrushing unraveling of the derivatives bubble, is playing out. LaRouche noted that every major financial institution of the United States, Europe and Asia is tied up in the derivatives collapse, but no one has a clear picture of the exposure of the other financial institutions.
"This is the big explosion, detonating right now," LaRouche warned. "And so far, I am offering the only coherent solution—bankruptcy reorganization of the entire global financial system—starting with the cancellation of all derivatives obligations. My solution poses an existential threat to the entire Anglo-Dutch financial system of globalization. I know it, many leading bankers and government officials around the world know it, and, of course, the British know it. This is why the fear has turned to outright panic. We are nearing the showdown moment."
